Making stereotype-molds



o. SEARS. MAKING STERBOTYPB Moms. No. 412,299. Patented 0013.8, 1889.

(No Model.)

n. PETERS. Phetvmnnsnnlwr. wuhingion, n. C.

zen of the lUnited States, residing in Chicago,

Y ot which the following is a specification.

'ploy'a large number of type of each letter or UNITED STATES PATENT EErcE.

CHARLES'SEARS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MAKING STEREOTYPE-IVIOLDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 412,299, dated October 8, 1889.

Application filed .Iuly 5, 1888. S

.To afZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES SEARS, a citiin the county of Cook and Stat-e of Illinois, have invented a new' and useful Improvement in the Art of Making 'Stereotype-Molds,

The method of making stereotype-molds now generally in use consists, briefly, in iirst setting up the type b'y hand and locking the same in asuitable form and then taking the impression from the type-form in wax, papierniach, soft metal, or other suitable material, the Wax, papier-n1ach,or other stereotypemold being made from the whole form at a single impression. YAttempts have also been made to construct and use machines for making stereotype-molds which operate to first set up and lock together a single line of type and then take the impression in wax Vfrom such line of type, thus forming the stereotype-mold line by line. This method, however, is open to serious objections, owing largely to the fact that it is necessary to emkind, as frequently the same letter will occur many times in setting up a single line. Other diiculties arise inthe proper j ustiication of the Words in the line and together render this process unsatisfactory. It has also been found, Where the separate lines are unleaded and required to be very close together, as in matter composed of the smaller-sized type, that the act of taking the impression of the succeeding line disturbs the mold or impression made by the previous line, crowding the walls thereof inward, and thus producing unsatisfactory Work.

W'hile Wax may be and has been used with a degree of success in taking impressions line by line, no method has heretofore been discovered, to my knowledge, of practically producing a stereotype-mold letter by letter, owing to the closeness or small space between the letters in the -line and the consequent tendency to crowd and injure the Wall or mold of the preceding letter by the act of makingthe impression for-the succeeding one, and, so far as l know, ithas heretofore been deemed impracticable by those skill d in the art to successfully produce in any kn 1p matrix or mold material a stereotype-mold by making erial No. 279,041. (No model.)

the impressions therein letter by letter, unless, indeed, ot course, the impressions of the separate letters be made so far apart in the line as to render the same unsightly and of no practical utility in the art. I have, however, after long-continued experiments, discovered a practical and successful method of producing stereotypenn'olds by making the impressions letter by letter in the matrix material and as close together as desired or the usual distance apart, and without injuring or impairing the mold for the preceding letter.

I have discovered that impressions may be made letter by lett-er and as close together as usual even With the smallest-sized type upon the end iibers of a block of dry wood, and that the type-dies in thus successively making the `impressions one at a time and,one after another in the line will not crowd, injure, or impair in any Way hthe preceding impressions made in the line or in the preceding line, and that in this Way stereotype molds may be practicably and successfully produced letter by letter. y

Y The result of my discovery or improvement in the art of making stereotype-molds is to ena-ble me to produce stereotype-molds almost as rapidly and easily as matter can be written or prin ted on the ordinary type- Writer.

I am aware that machines have heretofore been invented for preparing stereotype molds 0r matrices by taking the impressions letter by letter in a matrix material, of which class" of machines those shown in the patents to McElheran, Nos. 20,018 and 21,208, and other patents of the United States heretofore granted, may be considered as illustrative. Such prior patents show machines which may be used in practicing my process. The machines shown in such prior patents, so far as I am aware, have not heretofore come into any practical or extensive use, as no practical method has heretofore been known whereby the impressions of the letters could be made one by one sufficiently close together without disturbing or impairing the iinpression of the prevcnbg` letter or line, and' my experimenlwa demonstrated that the impressions/cannot be so made one by one, and @th/the usual small space between the let- IOC ters, wax, clay, papier-mache", paper, copper, z1nc,-wood, type-metal, or any other material, so far as I have discovered, exceptingk erally, however thin may be the space or wall' between the contiguous letters. In this respect the longitudinal fibers of the wood block act as if they were each independent and separate from the others. I find also that when the wood block is cut across its grain, so that the end fibers of the wood will be struck and compressed longitudinally by the type-die, the wood-block matrix material is soft enough to yield readily to the type-impressing device or die, and that the longitudinally-compressed fibers are non elastic, so that they will not spring back when the typedie is withdrawn, and so that the impressions of all the letters in the line may be made of the same uniform depth and give the requisite uniform height to the printing-faces of the stereotypes cast therefrom. I also find that the driving in or sinking of the portions of the matrix successively by the impression device takes place without disturbing the surrounding portions, and that the sunken portion separates itself cleanly and readily from said surrounding portions, so that a sharp unbroken Wall is left upon all sides of the impression, and that the driven-in portions or fibers compact upon themselves longitudinally without finding room by lateral crowding. To better accomplish this latter result I usually make and prefer to make the wood matrix-block about type-high7 as that gives suiicient body in the material itself to allow the compacting caused by the impression to take place Wholly within the block itself. If the block were made too thin, the impressions made upon its end fibers bythe type-dies would tend to produce protuberances upon the under surface. Less height, however, than type-high maybe advantageously used. If the block is made very thin, however, it should preferably be secured to some non-elastic backing. In preparing the wood matrixblock I take thoroughly-dried wood, either hard or soft, give the surface to be impressed, which is formed by the end fibers, a smooth finish, and preferably coat it with thin flour paste or some other soft liquid preparation which will ll 'the pores of the wood and not crack or flake off when the impressions are made one by one successively therein and not interfere with the subsequent casting operation. Of course it will be understood that where the impression of the matrix material is not made letter by letter, but the impression taken from a whole line or form of type at a time, this difficulty of crowding or impairing the walls of previous impressionsr made in the matrix materialdoes not exist. In such case where the whole line or form 1s impressed at once the contiguous type sup-- view illustrating the process of forming the impressions on the end fibers of the woodtype block, one by one, successively. Fig. 2 is a face View of the wood-block stereotype mold after the same has been made by the process.

Fig. 3 isa section on line 3 3 of Fig.

2. Figs. l, 2, and 3 are enlarged for sake of clearness in the illustration. Fig. 4 is a plan View of a small portion of my wood-block matriX-mold as produced by my process and of the natural size. In this latter figure the type are of brevier size, and better indicate the small spaces required to be left between the contiguous letters in producing a'practical stereotypefmold for actual and practical use.

In said drawings, A represents the body of the block, and a the longitudinal or vertical fibers of the wood. The upper surface a', upon which Ithe impression is made, isrendered smooth by planing and polishing. The fibers run in the direction indicated in 'the drawings, so that the ends of the fibers are presented to the type-dies, and so that the impression and the compression of the fibers must take place in the direction of the length of the fibers. The impression-surface a thus composed of the ends of the bers may be and preferably is, coated with thin liquid flour paste, so as to fill or partially fill up the pores of the wood therewith and give the surface a full even polish.

B represents a type-Wheel furnished with a set of type-dies b.

C represents a hammer or lever by which the type-dies are struck or operated individually and successively to make the impretsion on the end fibers of the wood block A.

as each separate type die is successively brought into position.

D represents a movable bed, upon which the matrix-blank A is secured, and d a screw for moving the matrix-block bed the space of one type after each impression.

E represents a cam on the shaft e, for 'o'perating the lever C. Y Y

Of course it will be understood that the impressions of the type-dies on the end 'fibers of the wood block may be made by hand or by any suitable machine known to those skilled in the arte-such, for example, as those shown and described in the prior patents of' the United States hereinbefore referred to.`

IOO

IIO

mntrizebiock, substantially as specified.

2. The improvement in the art of preparing stereotype-molds, consisting in subjecting the matrix, consisting of a block of dry wood having a smooth surface for receiving` the impressions formed upon the ends of the fibers and sufficient body to resist the compacting-pressure, to the successive impact of the type-diesstriking in close proximity to each other, substantially as specified.

CHARLES SEARS.

Vvlitness es EDMUND ADoooK, H. M. MUNDAY. 

